Bowen dismisses ‘very broad’ Malaysia fuel warning, insists no supply threat

Energy Minister Chris Bowen has dismissed a warning from Malaysia that crucial fuel shipments could be disrupted if the spiralling Middle East conflict is prolonged.

Australia imports around 90 per cent of its fuel, leaving it at the mercy of foreign refineries weathering the global oil crisis.

Malaysia is Australia’s third-largest supplier of refined fuels.

A Malaysian embassy spokesman told The Australian Financial Review his government would “prioritise our own needs” before looking at “whatever demand that we receive from overseas”.

“There are some other countries as well that might be able to supply to Australia, but still, everyone is having the same problem right now,” the spokesman said.

With other major suppliers cutting back exports, Australia would be hard-pressed to make up the loss.

But Mr Bowen said on Friday the embassy’s response was “a very broad statement”.

“It wasn’t any particular announcement that they were taking any particular action,” he told ABC’s Radio National.

“Malaysia produces, refines, a lot more fuel than Malaysia or Malaysians would need at any given time.

“We continue to talk to all our partners across Asia … about the flow of energy both ways … in terms of this crisis.

“At the moment … the Malaysian government has taken no action to threaten the supply of fuel to Australia and all the ships that we’ve expected to arrive have arrived.”

While Australia’s fuel shipments scheduled for March have so far arrived as planned, market watchers have warned disruptions could hit Australia in mid-late April.

South Korea, another major supplier, has capped petrol and diesel exports to safeguard its own supply, while China directed refineries to pause or scale back exports, effectively cutting 32 per cent of Australia’s jet fuel supply.

‘Very low’ number of service stations out of fuel

Mr Bowen’s comments came as Australians face record-high prices at the bowser and dozens of service stations across the country report fuel shortages.

In NSW alone, 42 stations reported that they were out of petrol while 80 said they had no diesel.

Rural and regional areas have borne the brunt but shortages have crept in on major centres, including Sydney where service stations in the city’s northwest said they were completely out.

Mr Bowen again put the problem down to a surge in demand, saying that it “spiked by 100 per cent” and that “any supply chain for any commodity is going to struggle with that”.

“The number of service stations, or percentage of service stations, that are fully out of fuel is very low as a percentage … across the country,” he said, claiming it was in “single digits”.

“But that doesn’t mean it’s not a real crisis and real challenge for those people who are having trouble getting fuel in rural and regional areas.”

Anthony Albanese on Thursday appointed a fuel supply taskforce co-ordinator to work with states and territories on distribution.

It came as the consumer watchdog announced it was “urgently” investigating Ampol, BP, Mobil and Viva Energy over diesel prices in rural and regional areas.